This is a classic example of why you shouldn’t be too quick to write off a game. This game is entirely focused on the battle of Gettysburg, one of the greatest battles of all time and the turning point of the Civil War. On the surface, that may seem to lead itself to a shallow gaming experience, I mean how great can a game be that focuses on one battle in a five year war? As this game shows, the answer to that question is pretty damn great.
The game is really an Armchair General simulator, the minutiae of the battle is handled for you. The artillery automatically sets up when not moving, troops automatically rally after routing, and you have no supply issues to worry about. Instead, you issue orders at a regimental level and your AI generals, colonels, and the like carry them out. While this frees you up to direct a symphony of whoop ass on your enemies, it does almost feel a bit cheap to have this god-like view of the entire battlefield. The actual generals in the battle dealt with information issues, which played into their decisions. Slightly mitigating this is the fog-of-war, the ever popular darkening of parts of the map not in the line of sight of one of your units. Seeing as it would be almost impossible to make a game that mimics the information shortages and communication issues that a 19th century army faced, UG:G does a fine job.
The battle itself is broken into several phases, and which one you see next is based on the results of the previous battle. This gives the game some replayability, as it’s almost a choose-your-own-adventure scenario. If you choose to capture some objectives but not others, that could come back to haunt you in the next battle. Another thing the game does extremely well is AI. There are nine different AI personalities you can face off against, and they really are distinct in their mannerisms and tactics. This also helps with the replay value, the more cautious AI gives the game a much different vibe than an AI more prone to risk taking.
Gameplay itself is pretty smooth, your units are represented by oversized soldiers, cavalry, and artillery superimposed over a battlefield map that slightly resembles a historical map of Gettysburg. I personally like the design of the game a lot, but some others had issue with its simplicity. The system of ordering units around is genius in its simplicity, you just draw a line to where you want them to go. One issue is moving groups of units, sometimes it is difficult to easily select multiple units and get them to where you want them to go. The units will travel the path you draw in relation to where they already are, so their endpoint will be different than where you stop drawing the line at. Sometimes the matches do drag on a bit, a problem that could be solved by the addition of a fast forward option.
The game does require some use of tactics. The high ground matters, as does having a unit in cover. You also cannot just bunch all your units together and bum rush the enemy, you have to deploy units strategically, and know when to put in reserves or make a strategic retreat from a position. The battles are a marathon, not a sprint, and need to be treated as such. That being said, there are times when an all-out assault is necessary. At the same time though, your units’ casualties carry over until the end of the campaign. If you squander your best troops on an ill-advised assault early, you could be in trouble as the battle goes on. The units are rated on a three-star scale, more stars equals a stronger unit, use them wisely.
Overall, I would give this game a 9 out of 10. That score is elevated a bit by the fact that I got this game for $3.99 during a Steam sale. I would recommend nabbing this up for sure if it is on sale. If it is full retail, I would only get it if you are a fan of the Total War series. Were I to have grabbed it at the current retail price of $14.99, I would rate it 7.5 out of 10
The game is really an Armchair General simulator, the minutiae of the battle is handled for you. The artillery automatically sets up when not moving, troops automatically rally after routing, and you have no supply issues to worry about. Instead, you issue orders at a regimental level and your AI generals, colonels, and the like carry them out. While this frees you up to direct a symphony of whoop ass on your enemies, it does almost feel a bit cheap to have this god-like view of the entire battlefield. The actual generals in the battle dealt with information issues, which played into their decisions. Slightly mitigating this is the fog-of-war, the ever popular darkening of parts of the map not in the line of sight of one of your units. Seeing as it would be almost impossible to make a game that mimics the information shortages and communication issues that a 19th century army faced, UG:G does a fine job.
The battle itself is broken into several phases, and which one you see next is based on the results of the previous battle. This gives the game some replayability, as it’s almost a choose-your-own-adventure scenario. If you choose to capture some objectives but not others, that could come back to haunt you in the next battle. Another thing the game does extremely well is AI. There are nine different AI personalities you can face off against, and they really are distinct in their mannerisms and tactics. This also helps with the replay value, the more cautious AI gives the game a much different vibe than an AI more prone to risk taking.
Gameplay itself is pretty smooth, your units are represented by oversized soldiers, cavalry, and artillery superimposed over a battlefield map that slightly resembles a historical map of Gettysburg. I personally like the design of the game a lot, but some others had issue with its simplicity. The system of ordering units around is genius in its simplicity, you just draw a line to where you want them to go. One issue is moving groups of units, sometimes it is difficult to easily select multiple units and get them to where you want them to go. The units will travel the path you draw in relation to where they already are, so their endpoint will be different than where you stop drawing the line at. Sometimes the matches do drag on a bit, a problem that could be solved by the addition of a fast forward option.
The game does require some use of tactics. The high ground matters, as does having a unit in cover. You also cannot just bunch all your units together and bum rush the enemy, you have to deploy units strategically, and know when to put in reserves or make a strategic retreat from a position. The battles are a marathon, not a sprint, and need to be treated as such. That being said, there are times when an all-out assault is necessary. At the same time though, your units’ casualties carry over until the end of the campaign. If you squander your best troops on an ill-advised assault early, you could be in trouble as the battle goes on. The units are rated on a three-star scale, more stars equals a stronger unit, use them wisely.
Overall, I would give this game a 9 out of 10. That score is elevated a bit by the fact that I got this game for $3.99 during a Steam sale. I would recommend nabbing this up for sure if it is on sale. If it is full retail, I would only get it if you are a fan of the Total War series. Were I to have grabbed it at the current retail price of $14.99, I would rate it 7.5 out of 10